BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a receiver of the diversity system and, particularly, to a diversity receiver having a fault detecting function for reducing degradation of a receiving signal quality due to fault.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional diversity receiver of this kind has been used to improve degradation of error rate in a receiver of a radio communication system due to fading, as disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. Hei 6-204925.
FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing one of examples of conventional diversity receivers. As shown in FIG. 5, the diversity receiver includes a
first receiving circuit 1, a
second receiving circuit 2, a
switch 3 and a receiving
level detection circuit 4.
The
first receiving circuit 1 is input with a
first receiving signal 21 and outputs a first receiving
data 23 and a first
receiving level data 25 indicative of an electric field intensity of the
first receiving signal 21. On the other hand, the second receiving
circuit 2 is input with a second receiving
signal 22 and outputs a second receiving
data 24 and a second receiving
level data 26 indicative of an electric field intensity of the
second receiving signal 22. It is noted that the first receiving
signal 21 and the second receiving
signal 22 are the same signal, but received by a different antenna located in a different position respectively.
Further, the receiving
level judge circuit 4 is input with the first receiving
level data 25 and the second receiving
level data 26, compares them and judges one of them whose electric field intensity is higher than the other and outputs the judging result as a
level judge signal 30. The
switch 3 has inputs supplied with the
first receiving data 23 and the second receiving
data 24 and outputs one of the receiving
data 23 and 24 whose electric field intensity is higher according to the
level judge signal 30 from the receiving
level judge circuit 4.
In the foregoing conventional diversity receiver, when the receiving signal is weak and its signal level is low, there may be a case where the receiving level data of a fault receiving circuit, which does not output receiving data properly, becomes the same as that of a normal receiving circuit. Therefore, there may be a case where, although the receiving data of the normal receiving circuit is to be selected, the receiving data of the fault receiving circuit is selected and thus there is a defect that the communication quality is degraded when the receiving level is low and one of the receiving circuits is faulty.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is, therefore, to provide a diversity receiver capable of detecting a fault of a receiving circuit thereof and reducing the degradation of communication quality by disconnecting the faulty receiving circuit from its operation.
A diversity receiver according to the present invention is provided with a pair of receiving circuits for receiving radio signal through an antenna being connected to a respective receiver circuit, and for outputting receiving data, including an error rate, and receiving level data, indicating an electric field intensity; receiving level judge means for judging one of the pair of receiving circuits outputting higher level of the receiving level data, and for selecting and outputting the receiving data of the receiving circuit being judged; and fault detection means for calculating the error rate of the receiving data of each of the pair of receiving circuits, and for detecting a faulty receiving circuit by the result of calculated error rate, and for disconnecting the detected faulty receiving circuit from operation.
That is, a diversity receiver according to the present invention is provided with fault detection means in addition to the conventional diversity receiver, and the fault detection means detect fault state of one of receiver circuits included in the diversity receiver, discriminate which receiving circuit is faulty, and disconnect the faulty receiving circuit from its operation for preventing being selected by accident due to low level of receiving signal.
Therefore, the fault detection means comprises the following components to realize the object.
1) error rate accumulation means, coupled with the receiving circuits, for accumulating error rate of the receiving data output from each of the receiving circuits;
2) error rate judge means, coupled with the error rate accumulation means for detecting fault state of one of said pair of receiving circuits based on comparing the accumulated error rate with predetermined values, for discriminating faulty receiving circuit whose accumulated error rate being higher than another; and
3) control means, coupled with the error judge means, for disconnecting the receiving circuit, from its operation, detected and discriminated as faulty by the error rate judge means.
In the error rate accumulation means, a timing generation circuit for generating a timing signal is provided. As an error in the receiving circuit may occur due to not only fault but also fading of radio signal or some other intermittent reasons, it is necessary to accumulate errors only caused by fault of the receiving circuit, and this timing signal is used for this purpose.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
FIG. 1 is a block circuit diagram showing a construction of a diversity receiver according to an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a graph showing an error rate characteristics of the diversity receiver shown in FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a connection relationship among six judge circuits and a control circuit shown in FIG. 1;
FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an operation of the diversity receiver shown in FIG. 1; and
FIG. 5 is a block circuit diagram of a conventional diversity receiver.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
FIG. 1 is a block circuit diagram showing a construction of a diversity receiver according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Referring to FIG. 1, the diversity receiver includes a
first receiving circuit 1, a
second receiving circuit 2, a
switch 3 and a receiving
level detection circuit 4, as in the case of the conventional diversity receiver. The diversity receiver according to the present invention further includes a first error
rate accumulator circuit 5, a second error
rate accumulator circuit 6, a
timing generator circuit 7, a
first judge circuit 8, a
second judge circuit 9, a
third judge circuit 10, a
fourth judge circuit 11, a
fifth judge circuit 12, a
sixth judge circuit 13, all of which constitute fault detection means, and a
control circuit 14 which constitutes means for disconnecting a receiving circuit from the diversity receiver when the receiving circuit is detected as being faulty.
The
first receiving circuit 1 is input with a
first receiving signal 21 and outputs a first receiving
data 23 and a first
receiving level data 25 indicative of an electric field intensity of the
first receiving signal 21. The second receiving
circuit 2 is input with the
second receiving signal 22 and outputs a second receiving
data 24 and a second receiving
level data 26 indicative of the electric field intensity of the
second receiving signal 22.
The first and
second receiving signals 21 and 22 are the same radio signal received through a different antenna in a different location respectively, for example, AM-modulated radio signal having a frequency in a 1.5 GHz band and the first and second receiving
data 23 and 24, which are output from the first and second receiving
circuits 1 and 2, are frequency-converted signals having a frequency of 450 kHz. The first and second receiving
level data 25 and 26 indicate the electric field intensity of the first and
second receiving signals 21 and 22 in, for example, voltage from 0V to 5V.
The receiving
level judge circuit 4 is input with the first
receiving level data 25 and the second receiving
level data 26, compares those level data and judges one of them whose electric field intensity is higher and outputs a result of judgement as a
level judge signal 30.
The
switch 3 is input with the first receiving
data 23 and the second receiving
data 24 and switches a connection to one of the first and second receiving
data 23 and 24 whose electric field intensity is higher, according to the
level judge signal 30 from the receiving
level judge circuit 4.
The
timing generator circuit 7 generates a
timing signal 27 at a timing a period of which is long enough to discriminate between degradation of error rate in a short time due to fading and degradation of error rate due to fault of the receiver, for example, every 2 seconds, in a case where error rate of the first and second receiving
circuits 1 and 2 are to be measured.
The first error
rate accumulator circuit 5 is input with the first receiving
data 23 and the
timing signal 27, accumulates error rate from the first receiving
data 23 in a time period of the
timing signals 27, for example, every 2 seconds, and outputs a
first accumulation value 28. On the other hand, the second error
rate accumulator circuit 6 is input with the second receiving
data 24 and the
timing signal 27, accumulates error rate from the second receiving
data 24 in the time period of the
timing signals 27 and outputs a
second accumulation value 29.
The
first judge circuit 8 is input with the
first accumulation value 28, judges whether it is not higher than a first threshold value A (for example, A=2%) and outputs a
first judge result 31, e.g. a judge result of "good" or "0" for not a higher value, and "bad" or "1" for a higher value.
The
second judge circuit 9 is input with the
second accumulation value 29, judges whether it is not higher than a first threshold value A and outputs a
second judge result 32, and example of the second judge result is the same as the case of the first judge result.
The
third judge circuit 10 is input with the
first judge result 31 and the
second judge result 32, judges whether or not they are coincident and outputs a
third judge result 33, i.e. no output is obtained when both results are coincident and output (e.g. "1") is obtained when only one of the results is "good" or "bad.
The
fourth judge circuit 11 is input with the
first accumulation value 28 and the
second accumulation value 29, judges whether or not a difference between these accumulation values is not smaller than a second threshold value B (for example, B=2.5%) and outputs a
fourth judge result 34. For example, the fourth judge result "1" is output when the difference value of error accumulation value between the
first accumulation value 28 and the
second accumulation value 2 exceeds the second threshold value (2.5%).
The
fifth judge circuit 12 is input with the
third judge result 33 and the
fourth judge result 34, judges whether the
third judge result 33 indicates non coincidence ("1") and the
fourth judge result 34 indicates not smaller than the second threshold value B ("1"), and outputs a fifth judge result 35 (the judge result "1" when both inputs are "1").
Further, the
sixth judge circuit 13 is input with the
first accumulation value 28 and the
second accumulation value 29, compares both values and judges error rate of one of the first and second accumulation values which is higher and outputs discrimination information which accumulation value is higher as a
sixth judge result 36.
The
control circuit 14 is input with the
fifth judge result 35 and the
sixth judge result 36, and outputs the discrimination information of the
sixth judge result 36 as a
seventh judge result 37, when the
third judge result 33 indicates that the first and
second judge results 31 and 32 are not coincident and the
fourth judge result 34 indicates that the difference between the first and second accumulation values is not smaller than the second threshold value B.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a connection relationship among those six judge circuits and a control circuit shown in FIG. 1.
FIG. 2 is an example of a graph showing an error rate characteristics against the receiving level of the receiving circuit according to the present invention. It is assumed that the
first judge circuit 8 and the
second judge circuit 9 have a threshold value which is the first threshold value A (for example, A=2%).
Referring to FIG. 2, the first threshold value A is set to an error rate with which the communication quality can not be maintained. The
first judge circuit 8 and the
second judge circuit 9 judge whether or not the
first accumulation value 28 and the
second accumulation value 29 input thereto are not larger than the first threshold value A, respectively.
The
third judge circuit 10 judges whether or not the
first judge result 31 of the
first judge circuit 8 and the
second judge result 32 of the
second judge circuit 9 are coincident by performing an exclusive-OR of the
first judge result 31 of the
first judge circuit 8 and the
second judge result 32 of the
second judge circuit 9, and the active output "1" is obtained only when they are not coincident.
The
fourth judge circuit 11 has the second threshold value B (for example, B=2.5%). The second threshold value B is set therein for the purpose of prevention of an erroneous fault detection.
Referring to FIG. 2 again, the second threshold value B is set to a value with which the
first receiving circuit 1 and the
second receiving circuit 2 can be judged as being normal when a difference between the
first accumulation value 28 and the
second accumulation value 29 is within the second threshold value B even if the first judge result 31 of the
first judge circuit 8 and the
second judge result 32 of the
second judge circuit 9 are not coincident.
The
fifth judge circuit 12 judges whether or not a fault occurs in one of the first and
second receiving circuits 1 and 2 by performing an "AND" of the third judge result of the
third judge circuit 10 and the fourth judge result of the
fourth judge circuit 10, and the active output "1" is obtained when one of the first and
second receiving circuits 1 and 2 is regarded as faulty condition.
The
sixth judge circuit 13 compares the
first accumulation value 28 with the
second accumulation value 29 and outputs the discrimination information of the first or
second receiving circuits 1 or 2 whose error rate is larger than the other, and the
control circuit 14 judges that the receiving circuit indicated by the discrimination information is faulty when the active output "1" from the
fifth judge circuit 12 exists.
Now, an operation of the diversity receiver shown in FIG. 1 will be described with reference to FIG. 4.
FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an operation of this embodiment of the present invention.
Referring to FIG. 4, in the step A1, the diversity receiver of the present invention is in diversity-operation. Then, when the first error
rate accumulation circuit 5 and the second error
rate accumulation circuit 6 receive the output of the
timing generator circuit 7 in the step A2, the first error
rate accumulation circuit 5 and the second error
rate accumulation circuit 6 start calculations of error rates of the
first receiving circuit 1 and the
second receiving circuit 2 in the step A3.
The first error
rate accumulation circuit 5 and the second error
rate accumulation circuit 6 continue to accumulate the error rates until the next input from the
timing generator circuit 7 is supplied to the first error
rate accumulation circuit 5 and the second error
rate accumulation circuit 6 in the step A4.
At a time when the next input from the
timing generator circuit 7 is supplied to the first error
rate accumulation circuit 5 and the second error
rate accumulation circuit 6 in the step A4, the first error
rate accumulation circuit 5 outputs the
first accumulation value 28 of error rate and the second error
rate accumulation circuit 6 outputs the
second accumulation value 29 of error rate in the step A5. Assuming the
first accumulation value 28=Xa and the
second accumulation value 29=Xb, Xa and Xb represent the error rates of the
first receiving circuit 1 and the error rate of the
second receiving circuit 2 at the same time instance, respectively.
Then, in the step A6, the
first judge circuit 8 and the
second judge circuit 9 judge whether or not Xa and Xb are not larger than the first threshold value A , respectively, and the
third judge circuit 10 exclusive-ORs the judge results of the
first judge circuit 8 and the
second judge circuit 9. That is, the
third judge circuit 10 judges whether or not the first and second judge results of the first and
second judge circuits 8 and 9 are coincident.
If they are coincident, it is judged as that there is a fault in neither the
first receiving circuit 1 nor the
second receiving circuit 2 and the diversity operation in the step A1 is continued.
On the other hand, if not coincident each other, it is judged that there is a possibility of fault in the
first receiving circuit 1 or the
second receiving circuit 2.
In a case where the third judge result of the
third judge circuit 10 in the step A6 indicates that the judge results of the first and
second judge circuits 8 and 9 are not coincident, the
fourth judge circuit 11 judges in the step A7 whether or not a difference between Xa and Xb which are the accumulation values of the first and second error
rate accumulation circuits 5 and 6 is not smaller than the second threshold value B. Then, when the fourth judge result of the
fourth judge circuit 11 indicates that the difference is smaller than the threshold value B in the step A7, there is no possibility of fault in the first and
second receiving circuits 1 and 2 and the diversity operation in the step A1 is continued.
When the fourth judge result of the
fourth judge circuit 11 indicates that the difference is not smaller than the threshold value B, it is judged that there is a fault in the
first receiving circuit 1 or the
second receiving circuit 2. That is, if Xa>Xb, the
first receiving circuit 1 is faulty and, if Xa<Xb, the
second receiving circuit 2 is faulty.
Then, if Xa>Xb in the step A8, the
switch 3 selects a connection to the
second receiving circuit 2 in the step A9. On the other hand, if Xa<Xb in the step A8, the
switch 3 selects a connection to the
first receiving circuit 1 in the step A10. Then, after the
switch 3 selects the connection to the
second receiving circuit 2 or the
first receiving circuit 1 in the steps A9 and A10, the operation is returned to the step A2 to continue the fault detection. When it is judged through the continuation of the fault detection that there is no fault, the diversity operation is resumed.
Now, an operation of the diversity receiver shown in FIG. 1 with the first threshold value A=2% and the second threshold value B=2.5% will be described in detail. Referring to FIG. 4, in the step A1, the diversity receiver of the present invention is in diversity-operation. Then, when the first error
rate accumulation circuit 5 and the second error
rate accumulation circuit 6 receive the output of the
timing generator circuit 7 in the step A2, the first error
rate accumulation circuit 5 and the second error
rate accumulation circuit 6 start calculations of error rates of the
first receiving circuit 1 and the
second receiving circuit 2 in the step A3. The first error
rate accumulation circuit 5 and the second error
rate accumulation circuit 6 continue to accumulate the error rates until the next input from the
timing generator circuit 7 is supplied to the first error
rate accumulation circuit 5 and the second error
rate accumulation circuit 6 in the step A4. In the step A4, the first error
rate accumulation circuit 5 and the second error
rate accumulation circuit 6 continue to accumulate the error rates until the next timing pulse from the
timing generator circuit 7 which is generated 2 seconds later.
Referring to FIG. 4 again, at a time when the next input from the
timing generator circuit 7 is supplied to the first error
rate accumulation circuit 5 and the second error
rate accumulation circuit 6 in the step A4, the first error
rate accumulation circuit 5 outputs the
first accumulation value 28 of error rate and the second error
rate accumulation circuit 6 outputs the
second accumulation value 29 of error rate in the step A5. Assuming the
first accumulation value 28=3% and the
second accumulation value 29=0.2%, 3% and 0.2% represent the error rates of the
first receiving circuit 1 and the error rate of the
second receiving circuit 2 at the same time instance, respectively.
Then, in the step A6, the
first judge circuit 8 and the
second judge circuit 9 judge whether or not 3% and 0.2% are not larger than the first threshold value of 2%, respectively, and only the
first judge circuit 8 outputs an active signal, indicating the first accumulation value being exceeded the threshold value of 2%, as the
judge result 31.
The
third judge circuit 10 exclusive-ORs the judge result 31 of the
first judge circuit 8 and the judge result 32 of the
second judge circuit 9. That is, the
third judge circuit 10 judges whether or not the first and second judge results 31 and 32 of the first and
second judge circuits 8 and 9 are coincident. Since, in this example, the third judge result 33 of the
third judge circuit 10 indicates that the first and second judge results are not coincident, it is judged as that there is a possibility of fault in the
first receiving circuit 1 or the
second receiving circuit 2.
In a case where the third judge result of the
third judge circuit 10 in the step A6 indicates that the judge results of the first and
second judge circuits 8 and 9 are not coincident, the
fourth judge circuit 11 judges in the step A7 whether or not a difference between 3% and 0.2% which are the accumulation values of the first and second error
rate accumulation circuits 5 and 6 is not smaller than the second threshold value of 2.5%.
In this example, the difference between 3% and 0.2% is larger than the threshold value of 2.5%, therefore, the fourth judge result 34 of the
fourth judge circuit 11 indicates that the difference is not smaller than the second threshold value of 2.5%, and it is judged that there is a fault in the
first receiving circuit 1 or the
second receiving circuit 2. That is, if Xa>Xb, the
first receiving circuit 1 is faulty and, if Xa<Xb, the
second receiving circuit 2 is faulty. Since, in this example, 3%>0.2%, the
first receiving circuit 1 is faulty.
Then, in the step A9, the
switch 3 selects a connection to the
second receiving circuit 2.
Then, after the
switch 3 selects the connection to the
second receiving circuit 2 in the steps A9, the operation is returned to the step A2 to continue the fault detection.
When it is judged through the continuation of the fault detection that there is no fault, the diversity operation is resumed.
As described hereinbefore, in the present invention, the fault of the receiving circuits is detected on the basis of the error rates thereof and the connection to the normal receiving circuit is fixed. Therefore, according to the present invention, a diversity receiver which has no possibility of switching the connection to a faulty receiving circuit and is capable of preventing the communication quality from being degraded is provided.
Although the present invention has been fully described by way of the preferred embodiments thereof with reference to the accompanying drawings, various changes and modifications will be apparent to those having skill in this field. Therefore, unless these changes and modifications otherwise depart from the scope of the present invention, they should be construed as included therein.